Galgiani eager to get sworn in, dig in

STOCKTON - Cathleen Galgiani on Monday said she's already advocating for the 5th Senate District, even though as a newly elected state senator, she won't be sworn in until next week.

Dana M. Nichols

STOCKTON - Cathleen Galgiani on Monday said she's already advocating for the 5th Senate District, even though as a newly elected state senator, she won't be sworn in until next week.

Galgiani, a Democrat, will be part of a new two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the State Legislature that will allow Democrats to move certain kinds of legislation such as tax increases or emergency measures without any Republican votes.

No party has had a supermajority in both houses in California since 1933 when Republicans were in control.

But Galgiani said she's already told Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) that she's a particularly independent Democrat, and she wants attention for the pressing needs of the 5th Senate District.

"I've already had probably three conversations with the Pro Tem telling him that my district is ground zero for the foreclosure crisis, my district is ground zero for the economic decline, and if my law enforcement community in my district is saying there are problems with realignment, then I need leadership to take that seriously," Galgiani said.

Realignment refers to the 2011 overhaul of California's criminal justice system that gave county governments more responsibility for supervising and incarcerating criminals.

Galgiani's opponent in the election, Republican Bill Berryhill, said during the campaign that Galgiani's support of realignment meant that she had helped to dump criminals out of state prison early.

In fact, that law did not release any inmates early, state authorities say. But it has put pressure on local governments, forcing them to supervise and in some cases make jail space for offenders who would have previously been a state responsibility.

Galgiani said she'll make sure that issue gets addressed, even if she has to buck Democratic leadership.

"I am the one that will stand up and ask the hard questions and deal with the tough, ugly issues that nobody wants touched," she said.

Galgiani currently serves in the Assembly, as does Berryhill.

Galgiani on Monday also reflected on the emotional roller coaster of the weeks following the Nov. 6 election. In election night returns, her opponent had a narrow lead. But as tens of thousands of last-minute mail ballots and thousands of provisional ballots were counted over the next two weeks, Berryhill's lead evaporated.

"Initially in that first week, I thought I might have a small edge in (still uncounted ballots in) San Joaquin County because I won San Joaquin County. But I didn't know if it would be enough to put me over the top, because Bill Berryhill won Stanislaus County."

As of Monday, the count stood with Galgiani ahead by 2,111 votes out of 278,273 ballots counted so far.

Elections officials in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties Monday said they were still processing provisional ballots - roughly 4,000 in San Joaquin and around 3,000 in Stanislaus.

Many are proving extremely time consuming to process because they involve voters who registered online and for whom some crucial information - such as a place or date of birth - must still be verified in order for the ballot to be counted.

San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Austin Erdman said his staff in some cases must sort through piles of mail received before the election to determine if voters who initially registered online later provided the information to make their registration valid.

Erdman estimated that perhaps 1,600 of the remaining 4,000 ballots might prove to be valid.

In Stanislaus County, Clerk Recorder Lee Lundrigan, who oversees elections, said no more than a third of the remaining ballots there would be in the 5th Senate District, which covers only part of Stanislaus County.

With the lead Galgiani now has, Berryhill would have to receive the vast majority of the remaining uncounted ballots to come back.

"Mathematically, yes, there could be a turn," Erdman said. "The reality is, probably not."

Berryhill campaign representatives did not respond Monday to phone messages asking if the candidate was ready to concede.

Galgiani said it was last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, when she learned that the vote had gone her way.

"I was absolutely thrilled and honored," Galgiani said.

"I enjoyed the holiday," Galgiani added. "I had a lot to be thankful for this time."